Penn State Tries to Shake off First Loss when It Hosts Indiana Saturday


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 9/11 Penn State looks to extend its home winning streak and honor servicemembers as it hosts No. 24/25 Indiana in its annual Military Appreciation game at noon Saturday in Beaver Stadium.

(Photo by Paul Burdick. Check out more of Burdick’s work here)

Indiana is Penn State’s fourth opponent in the last five games to be ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The last time Penn State played as many ranked opponents in a five-game stretch was 2003. It will be Penn State’s first game against a ranked Hoosiers team.

Penn State returns to Beaver Stadium for the first time in almost a month, as it last played there on Oct. 19, earning a win over then-No. 16 Michigan before more than 110,000 white-clad fans. Since then, the Nittany Lions had a pair of road games split by a bye week. They have won their last seven at home dating back to last season.

Penn State QB Sean Clifford and WR KJ Hamler both rank among Big Ten leaders in yardage. Clifford leads the conference with 2,271 passing yards, 252.3 passing yards per game and 287.8 yards of total offense per game. Hamler ranks fourth in all-purpose yardage per game (129.9), receiving yards (739) and receiving yards per game (82.1).

Penn State (12.0 ppg) ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense and 13th in total defense (300.0 ypg), led by a stingy rushing defense allowing just 74.2 yards per game (3rd FBS) and an FBS-best 2.12 yards per rush. Penn State has 31 sacks through nine games to average 3.44 sacks per game (9th in FBS). The Nittany Lions also rank 10th in the country with 8.1 tackles for loss per game.

At 7-2 overall Indiana is off to its best start since 1993. The Hoosiers were off last weekend, but entered both major polls this week, getting a nod in the AP poll for the first time since Sept. 20, 1994 and the Amway Coaches Poll for the first time since Oct. 24, 1994.

SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS
Indiana is 7-2 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play and enters the Penn State game riding a four-game winning streak and following a bye week. The Hoosiers are ranked in AP and Coaches polls for the first time since 1994.

Indiana is 0-2 against ranked opponents this season, dropping its first two Big Ten games of the year against then-No. 6 Ohio State and then-No. 25 Michigan State. Since then, it has tallied wins against Rutgers, Maryland, Nebraska and Northwestern.

The Hoosiers have scored at least 31 points in their last six consecutive games and in eight out of nine games on the year (held to 10 points against Ohio State).

Indiana ranks seventh in FBS and second in the Big Ten in time of possession (34:06).

Indiana is very complementary in the passing game, leading the Big Ten and ranking 15th in FBS with 308.0 yards per game on offense while ranking fourth in the Big Ten and ninth nationally allowing just 176.3 yards per game on defense.

Indiana ranks second in total offense in the Big Ten with 446.4 yards per game.

Quarterback Peyton Ramsey ranks fifth in FBS and second in the Big Ten with a 72.0 completion percentage, while wide receiver Whop Philyor is second in the Big Ten with 90.3 receiving yards per game.

WINNING WAYS

Penn State is 39-10 over the past four seasons (2016-19), which is tied for the fifth-best record in FBS. Dating back to 2015, Penn State has won 29 of its last 32 home games.

Penn State’s 46 wins over the last five years (2015-19) rank 10th in FBS and third in the Big Ten (Ohio State, 57; Wisconsin, 49).

Penn State’s 135 wins over the last 15 years (2005-19) rank tied for 13th in FBS and third in the Big Ten (Ohio State, 167; Wisconsin, 147).

Penn State clinched its 15th consecutive winning season. The Nittany Lions join Wisconsin, Oklahoma, LSU and Boise State as the only teams with a winning season each of the last 15 years.

Over the last 14 seasons, Penn State has totaled at least nine wins in nine seasons, including the last three seasons.

Head coach James Franklin has guided his teams to a winning record each of the last eight seasons (2 at Vanderbilt, 6 at Penn State).

Since 2016, Franklin’s 79.59 percent (39-10) winning percentage ranks third among current FBS coaches behind Clemson’s Dabo Swinney 94.44 percent (50-3) and Alabama’s Nick Saban 92.45 percent (49-3).

MILESTONE WATCH
– Noah Cain is one touchdown shy of tying the Penn State record for rushing TDs by a freshman (D.J. Dozier, 1983; Saquon Barkley, 2015).
– KJ Hamler is 414 yards shy of 3,000 career all-purpose yards.
– Pat Freiermuth is 240 yards shy of 1,000 career receiving yards.
– Sean Clifford is 729 yards shy of 3,000 passing yards this season.
-Micah Parsons is 49 tackles shy of 200 career tackles.
– Yetur Gross-Matos is one tackle shy of 100 career tackles and is 5.0 sacks shy of 20 career sacks

PILING UP THE POINTS

PSU ranks 17th in FBS and third in the Big Ten averaging 37.1 points per game.

QB Sean Clifford ranks 19th in FBS and second in the Big Ten averaging 16.2 points responsible for per game.

Penn State has scored 40 points 18 times since 2016. By comparison, from 2008 until 2015, the Nittany Lions had 18 40-point outings.

Of the five games Penn State has scored less than 20 points in since 2016, Penn State has won two this season (Pitt & Iowa). Two of the games were losses at Michigan (2017 & 2018) and the other was a loss to Michigan State last season.

Penn State had a high-scoring season-opener, scoring 79 points for its highest single-game total since an 81-0 win over Cincinnati in the 1991 home opener. The 79 points are tied for the most in FBS this season with Maryland (79 vs. Howard).

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS
Explosive plays have been a key part of Penn State’s offense this season.
Penn State ranks 12th in FBS in 15-plus yard pass play percentage (62 plays, 21.91%), 14th in FBS with 1.45 percent of plays (9 plays) going for 50 yards or more.

Accordingly, 71.21 percent (141-of-198) of PSU’s first downs this season have come on first or second down.

PASSING YARDAGE

QB Sean Clifford leads the Big Ten with 252.3 yards passing per game (27th in FBS) and 2,271 yards total (31st in FBS). Clifford’s season passing yardage total of 2,271 ranks 16th on Penn State’s list.

With six 200-yard passing games this season, Clifford is tied for 10th in the category at Penn State.

Clifford is the third Penn State quarterback to have three games with 250 or more passing yards and three or more passing touchdowns in a season, joining Trace McSorley (2017, 4 games) and Christian Hackenberg (2013, 3 games) as the only Lions to do so.

RECORD PASSING TD PACE

QB Sean Clifford is the first Penn State quarterback to throw 21 touchdown passes in the first nine games of a season.
Clifford’s 21 touchdown passes rank 18th in FBS and second in the Big Ten.

Clifford has already surpassed Trace McSorley’s 2018 season (18 TD passes) and currently ranks in a tie for sixth place with Tony Sacca (1991) and Kerry Collins (1994) on Penn State’s single-season ledger.

Clifford needs eight more passing touchdowns this season to equal the single-season record of 29 set by McSorley in 2016.

If Clifford reaches 25 passing touchdowns this season, the three highest single-season passing touchdowns totals in Penn State history will have come in the last four seasons.

Clifford’s season passing touchdown percentage of 8.10 currently ranks first all-time at Penn State.

Clifford’s 23 career touchdown passes rank tied for 14th in Penn State history with Michael Robinson (2002-05).

Clifford’s career passing touchdown percentage of 8.64 currently ranks second all-time at Penn State.

Clifford has five games of three or more touchdown passes this season.

Clifford has six multi-touchdown pass games this season.

Clifford has thrown three touchdowns in a half four times this year: 2nd half vs. Buffalo, 1st half vs. Maryland, 1st half vs. Purdue, 1st half vs. Michigan State.

LOW SCORING
Penn State is fifth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 12.0 points per game.

Penn State’s 108 points allowed in the first nine games is its fewest since allowing 84 points in the first nine of 2009.

Penn State has held 11 of its last 13 opponents to 21 points or less, and 10 of those to 13 points or less.

The Nittany Lions shut out Michigan State in the first half, marking the third time this year Penn State put up zeroes in the opening half this season (Idaho and Maryland).

The Nittany Lions are second in FBS in fourth-quarter points allowed (2.50) and are third in FBS in second-half points allowed (4.63) this season.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Penn State was the first FBS team to allow no more than 13 points in each of its first six games of a season since Louisville in 2013.

Since 2000, the only other team besides Penn State (2019) and Louisville (2013) to allow no more than 13 points in each of its first six games was Wisconsin (2004). Penn State was a victim of Wisconsin’s streak, taking a 16-3 loss in its Big Ten opener that year.

The 19 points allowed by Penn State in its first three Big Ten games this season (0 at Maryland, 7 vs. Purdue, 12 at Iowa) are the fewest allowed in a three-game stretch of Big Ten games in a single season since joining the conference in 1993. The previous low was allowing 20 in three straight games on two occasions (last in 2018).

The seven points allowed by Penn State in its first two Big Ten games this season (0 at Maryland, 7 vs. Purdue) were the fewest allowed in a two-game stretch of Big Ten games in a single season since joining the conference in 1993.

The previous low was allowing 10 in two consecutive games on two occasions (last in 2018).
Penn State has held eight of its last nine regular-season non-conference opponents to 14 points or less, dating back to 2017.

 


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